Another resident dies from COVID at Vineland, NJ, veterans home

New Jersey has recorded another COVID-19 death at a state-run veterans home. It is the first confirmed death in months, but adds to a total that is among the highest in the nation.

Investigations into how the Murphy administration handled the COVID crisis in state run facilities has been ongoing for months. The New Jersey Attorney General and the U.S. Justice Department have launched separate inquiries and a state grand jury has been impaneled. To date, no formal action has been taken.

Governor Phil Murphy did fire his commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans affairs and the CEOs of two of the veterans homes, but has said little about what may have caused the high number of COVID fatalities.

Murphy would also not give any information about this latest death, only confirming it was at the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home in Vineland, where 11 other residents died from COVID in the early months of the pandemic. At the state's three veterans homes, more than 200 deaths have been confirmed or are suspected due to COVID.

In a series of reports, USA TODAY and other media found the Murphy administration bungled the response to COVID in these nursing homes, including allowing residents they knew were infected to mingle with those who were not infected.

The Asbury Park Press reports dozens of families are suing the state, and more than a year after burying their loved ones, have received little or no information from the state about how their relatives died.